|
 If
Indiana is going to prosper in the future, the state needs its higher
education institutions to develop and implement collaborative programs
that identify and cultivate meaningful economic opportunities for
college students and graduates. Through this initiative, Saint
Mary’s proposes to use experiential learning
as a means to engage its students in the economic life of the state
and prepare them to take advantage of the opportunities Indiana
provides. The College also intends to enhance the career
development assistance it provides and place a greater
emphasis upon promoting the career options that exist in Indiana.
The College
will provide students and faculty with the opportunity to apply
for both internal and external sub-grants.
These sub-grants will support a variety of
activities undertaken in conjunction with Indiana businesses, government
and non-profit organizations, and other appropriate entities.
The
Collaborative Partners Development Program
The Collaborative
Partners Development Program will provide members of the Saint Mary’s
community with the opportunity to develop partnerships with Indiana
organizations.
The support
provided through the various internal and external sub-grants
included
in this project are designed to encourage or “jump start”
student interest in experiential learning in Indiana.
Saint Mary’s has made provisions to ensure that this project
will have a lasting impact on the College’s ability to address
the state’s “brain drain” problems, since this
support will not be around forever.
-
The College is directing a portion of the sub-grants to support
faculty activities.
-
Saint
Mary’s will devote a portion of grant funds to activities
that will organize College resources so that they better
support student involvement in experiential learning and focus
these same resources on identifying and cultivating meaningful
economic
opportunities in Indiana for college students and graduates. The
specific activities involved in this effort include:
A
Task Force on Experiential Learning at Saint Mary’s
A Task Force
on Experiential Learning at Saint Mary’s will coordinate a
campus-wide examination of the College’s polices as they relate
to internships, service-learning, and other experiential learning
activities. The purpose of this examination will be to identify
the barriers at the College that restrict the ability of students
to engage in experiential learning opportunities and to establish
practices and procedures to facilitate experiential learning.
Students, faculty,
staff, and senior administrators will look to answer questions
such as:
- What
types of experiential learning activities are students engaging
in now?
-
What barriers do students encounter in their attempts to engage
in these activities?
-
How can the College better support students interested in experiential
learning?
-
Where does experiential learning fit into the College’s
academic program?
Enhancements
to the Career Development Assistance Provided by the College
Enhancements
to the Career Development Assistance that the College provides will
enable greater student involvement in experiential learning within
Indiana and help students pursue and obtain meaningful economic
opportunities in the state. Currently, the career develop assistance
Saint Mary’s provides to students is housed along with counseling
services in the College’s Counseling and Career Development
Center. The need to appoint an individual as the project director
for this grant provides an opportunity to establish a career development
office that is separate from the other counseling services the College
provides.
In summer 2004,
the College assembled a team consisting of the vice president
and dean of faculty, vice president for student affairs, the newly
appointed project director for this project, the director of
the
counseling and career development center, current career development
staff, and two to four faculty representatives. Two student representatives
joined this team in fall 2004. The goal
is for the team to finalize the plans for a separate career development
office during the 2004-2005 academic year and be ready to launch
a separate career development office no later than fall 2005.
A new career
development office separate from counseling services will function
as a central hub that links all of the various
experiential learning and career exploration activities at the
College together. The reporting
lines
for career development likely will shift from Student Affairs to
Academic Affairs to better enhance its connection to and communication
with faculty and departmental initiatives. As a result, Saint
Mary’s
will be better able to serve a larger number of its students and
focus the attention of the College community on identifying and
developing meaningful economic opportunities in Indiana.
The Grants
| Internal
& External Sub-Grants
Summer
Experiential Learning (SELs) Grants
Summer
Experiential Learning (SELs) Grants are modeled on the popular
and successful Student Independent Study and Research (SISTAR)
grants that are available through the College’s Center
for Academic Innovation. However, instead of supporting
scholarly research as the SISTARs do, SELs will require
recipients to engage in an activity that helps to identify
or develop meaningful economic opportunities in Indiana.
More
information about:
Fellowships
in Experiential Learning (FELs)
Fellowships
in Experiential Learning (FELs) will release faculty from
the teaching of one course during an academic year so that
they can develop or implement an experiential learning opportunity
for students. Similar to the SELs, faculty requesting a
FEL must describe how their projects will enhance the experiential
learning opportunities that are available to students and
provide an estimate as to how many students their project
will impact. The College expects FEL projects to generate
an experiential learning opportunity for at least three
students. Preference in the selection process for FELs will
be given to projects that build on work initiated through
a SEL, propose to impact a significant number of students
at different stages in the career development process, or
establish experiential learning opportunities that are sustainable
after the support available through this grant ends.
More
information about:
Networking
Grants
Networking
Grants will provide students and faculty with modest funds
to assist them in their efforts to discover opportunities
within the state, establish relationships that will lead
to future opportunities, or take advantage of the many opportunities
and activities that Indiana offers. Possible uses of these
grants might include allowing a faculty member to spend
a weekend meeting with a colleague to develop an internship
opportunity, helping faculty advisors preview an internship
site, or assisting Saint Mary’s alumnae with the organization
of an event to introduce students to the community in which
they are interning.
These
Networking Grants will be divided into two categories: local
grants that will assist with activities in Northern Indiana;
and extended grants that will assist with activities in
all other parts of the state.
More
information about:
- Networking
Grants - to come
Post-Baccalaureate Fellowships
Post-Baccalaureate
Fellowships will partner Saint Mary’s graduates with
Indiana companies, government agencies, or non-profit organizations
looking to hire at least one additional college-educated
employee. Students interested in this opportunity, their
external partners, and the College will work together, prior
to the student’s graduation, to develop a plan to
use this opportunity to create a temporary position for
the student at the partnering organization.
More
information about:
|
Questions?
For
more information about INC @ SMC or any of its programs, please
contact:
Stacie Jeffirs, CCO Director
(574) 284-4775 or x4775 (on campus)
or via e-mail at: sjeffirs@saintmarys.edu
top
Indiana
Post-Baccalaureate Fellowships are made possible by a grant from
the Lilly Endowment's Initiative to Promote Opportunity through
Educational Collaborations.
©2005-2006
INC@SMC
Saint Mary's College
www.saintmarys.edu |
